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Walter Le May

Name : Walter Le May Awards : Distinguished Flying Cross

Flight Lieutenant Walter Le May DFC joined the R.A.F. in 1941,and trained as an Observer in Canada, joining 140 Squadron, Army Co-operation Command, at Hartford Bridge (now Blackbushe). The squadron, engaged on photo- reconnaissance, was unique in that one flight was equipped with Spitfires while a second flight, converting from Blenheims to Lockheed Venturas, was used for night operations. In June 1943 the squadron became part of the 34 Wing 2nd Tactical Air Force, and later converted to Mosquito 1X & XV1. Mainly involved in night operations, he, with his pilot, F/Lt Ray Batenburg DFC, R.N.Z.A.F., crossed the French coast a few minutes after midnight on D-Day, and took photographs of key points, followed by nearly 2 hours of low-level visual reconnaissance, at heights down to 200 feet. After operational flying he was appointed Night Ops. Controller 34 Wing, and, afterwards Ops. Controller at H.Q. 2 Group, Gutersloh.

Aircraft for : Walter Le May
A list of all aircraft associated with Walter Le May. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name.
Aircraft	Info
Mosquito Click the name above to see prints featuring Mosquito aircraft. Manufacturer : De Havilland Production Began : 1940 Retired : 1955 Number Built : 7781	Mosquito Used as a night fighter, fighter bomber, bomber and Photo-reconnaissance, with a crew of two, Maximum speed was 425 mph, at 30,300 feet, 380mph at 17,000ft. and a ceiling of 36,000feet, maximum range 3,500 miles. the Mosquito was armed with four 20mm Hospano cannon in belly and four .303 inch browning machine guns in nose. Coastal strike aircraft had eight 3-inch Rockets under the wings, and one 57mm shell gun in belly. The Mossie at it was known made its first flight on 25th November 1940, and the mosquito made its first operational flight for the Royal Air Force as a reconnaissance unit based at Benson. In early 1942, a modified version (mark II) operated as a night fighter with 157 and 23 squadron's. In April 1943 the first De Haviland Mosquito saw service in the Far east and in 1944 The Mosquito was used at Coastal Command in its strike wings. Bomber Commands offensive against Germany saw many Mosquitos, used as photo Reconnaissance aircraft, Fighter Escorts, and Path Finders. The Mosquito stayed in service with the Royal Air Force until 1955. and a total of 7781 mosquito's were built.
Spitfire Click the name above to see prints featuring Spitfire aircraft. Manufacturer : Supermarine Production Began : 1936 Retired : 1948 Number Built : 20351	Spitfire Royal Air Force fighter aircraft, maximum speed for mark I Supermarine Spitfire, 362mph up to The Seafire 47 with a top speed of 452mph. maximum ceiling for Mk I 34,000feet up to 44,500 for the mark XIV. Maximum range for MK I 575 miles . up to 1475 miles for the Seafire 47. Armament for the various Marks of Spitfire. for MK I, and II . eight fixed .303 browning Machine guns, for MKs V-IX and XVI two 20mm Hispano cannons and four .303 browning machine guns. and on later Marks, six to eight Rockets under the wings or a maximum bomb load of 1,000 lbs. Designed by R J Mitchell, The proto type Spitfire first flew on the 5th March 1936. and entered service with the Royal Air Force in August 1938, with 19 squadron based and RAF Duxford. by the outbreak of World war two, there were twelve squadrons with a total of 187 spitfires, with another 83 in store. Between 1939 and 1945, a large variety of modifications and developments produced a variety of MK,s from I to XVI. The mark II came into service in late 1940, and in March 1941, the Mk,V came into service. To counter the Improvements in fighters of the Luftwaffe especially the FW190, the MK,XII was introduced with its Griffin engine. The Fleet Air Arm used the Mk,I and II and were named Seafires. By the end of production in 1948 a total of 20,351 spitfires had been made and 2408 Seafires. The most produced variant was the Spitfire Mark V, with a total of 6479 spitfires produced. The Royal Air Force kept Spitfires in front line use until April 1954.

Squadrons for : Walter Le May
A list of all squadrons known to have been served with by Walter Le May. A profile page is available by clicking the squadron name.
Squadron	Info
No.140 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 1st May 1918 Fate : Disbanded 10th November 1945 Photo Reconnaissance Foresight Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of No.140 Sqn RAF	No.140 Sqn RAF Initially planned in November 1917 to be a O/400 or DH9 unit, eventually formed on 1 April 1918 at Biggin Hill as a home defence squadron with Bristol F.2B aircraft. The squadron reformed on 17th September 1941 at RAF Benson as a Spitfire and Blenheim equipped photo-reconnaissance unit, when no 1417 Flight was raised to Squadron status. In 1942 the squadron operated a detachment at RAF St Evall in Cornwall to photograph the French ports on the Atlantic coast. The Spitfires were used for daylight operations over Northern France and later the Low Countries and Belgium, whilst the Blenheims were used for night reconnaissance using flares but in this role they were not very successful. The Blenheims were supplemented by Venturas in February 1943 and by August the Blenheims were all replaced. In July 1943 the squadron was allocated to No 34 Wing of 2nd Tactical Air Force and its main operations now centred on the preparations for the forthcoming invasion. To support the forthcoming invasion of France the squadron was involved in detailed photography of coastal installations as well as photographing other targets and general mapping. In November 1943, it began to receive Mosquitoes and with the Venturas leaving in January 1944 and the last Spitfire in April, it became wholly equipped with Mosquitoes. The Mosquito had a larger range and was able to work deeper over France. Later with the radar equipped Mosquito PR.XVIs they were able to carry out blind night photography. These continued to be used in both day and night roles for the remainder of the war, having moved to Belgium in September 1944. The squadron's final operational tasks were to carry out shipping reconnaissance along the Dutch and German coasts and with the war in Europe finished the Squadron returned to England in September 1945 and disbanded at Fersfield on 10 November 1945.

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